Welcome Back Poors!
-Tweety Bird, EVE Online F2P forum thread
I was going to push this off to see how it plays out for a bit, but then I realized tomorrow was a new month and I like to mark events during the month they happen, so here it goes.
My initial reaction
CCP announced today, via a dev blog, that November’s release, which is clearly going to need some sort of epic name that we can curse at some future date, will include a free to play option for the residents of New Eden.
Dev Blog here
The basic upshot is that, come the release, there will be two flavors of capsuleers, those with Alpha clones, who are non-subscribers, and Omega clones, who are subscribers.
Nothing will change for Omega clones. We won’t even get the usual “please subscribe!” in-game cash shop currency bribe. Instead, focus will be all on the Alpha clones.
Alpha clones will be severely restricted. There will be a 5 million skill point cap on them and they will only be allowed to train from a specific set of allowed skills, which will be based on the race of the character in question. So an Alpha clone Amarr will get lasers, a Caldari will get missiles, and a Minmatar will get a roll of tech I duct tape and the usual kick in the ass.
They also won’t be able to extract skill points. Glad somebody thought of that hole immediately. Also, no cynos, no cloaking.
This seems to be following the early SOE F2P, which aimed to make free play so limited that anybody who really wanted to play would subscribe just to be done with the rat’s nest of “velvet rope” restrictions.
The thing is, EVE Online is different that a lot of other MMORPGs who have gone the free to play route. And EVE Online is very much a game where having multiple accounts is a force multiplier. And the real question of the hour isn’t so much how many new players this will attract to New Eden, but how the current player base will exploit this new method that will effectively allow them to have as many crappy, low skill alts as they want.
The first, and most obvious hole, which even CCP brought up in the dev blog, is suicide ganking. This will allow players to go nuts on that front. But even if CCP decides it needs to close that loophole, what else will players do with all those crappy, low skill alts? Will a couple players being able to put eyes in every system in a region change the game?
I suspect that a lot of this, like simultaneous Alpha clone logins, will be locked down fairly quickly. But still, having an alt hanging out in any system where you need eyes on only a login away will have some impact.
On the plus side, if/when your subscription runs out, your characters will become Alpha clones, only able to used the set range of skills, but you will still be able to log into the game a and chat with people. More people in local is always better, right? And when you try to do something you used to be able to do, the game will remind you that you need to subscribe.
Can’t touch that!
Anyway, this is a fresh item, CCP is still bouncing it around, and there are still a couple months to go before November. We shall see where this heads. I am sure I will return to the topic again, once things have settled down.
Others jumping right into the fray:
Huge Reddit Mega Thread
Jester’s suggested topics Reddit post
Hardcore Casual
Crossing Zebras
Target Caller
Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah
Funky Bacon
Sand, Cider, and Spaceships
Neville Smit
Bonus Assignment: Compare and contrast CCP’s play for EVE Online with Blizzard’s unlimited trial program for World of Warcraft. Be sure to discuss what makes something free to play versus just being a trial account.